Legal Question in Family Law in California
dividing property in a divorce
In a divorce if one party wants to buy out the other parties half of the family home does that party have to sell to him or can she ask the house be sold and then the property divided so that neither party gets to keep the home.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: dividing property in a divorce
The house will be sold and the proceeds will be divided between the spouses. As a general rule the court will allow one spouse to purchase the house at the current fair market value, as established either by agreement or trial. The advantage to allowing the other spouse to purchase is that the costs of sale are not deducted from the equity. Also the spouse purchasing the house will pay the income taxes on the money paid to the non purchasing spouse.